There was one genre however that I had never thought to buy a book on - American food. I am American, I grew up in America, I'd like to think that I could manage to russel up some good ole American meals. What even is 'American' food? Mac'n'cheese? Burgers? I mean those are tasty but hardly something I felt I needed instruction or inspiration or guidance on! I've always felt that the Brits never really understood that there is no such thing as being 'American' anyway - there is too much regional variation to ever define any sort of singular 'American' experience.
Enter my wonderful husband, who fuels my cookbook addiction in order to fuel his addiction of eating tasty things. (Talk about an being a bunch of enablers!) For Christmas a few years back Kyle got me a cookbook called Jamie's America. It features British celeb chef Jamie Oliver traveling all over the US, cooking good old fashioned regional favorites; everything from NY street food, to Cajun cooking, to the bold flavors of the southwest, and to the wild wild west. I never knew I could be so inspired by food and so inspired by America as a whole. At the risk of sounding incredibly corny the beauty of America is that their is no one cuisine, its a melting pot of different people, different techniques, different flavors, and they are all delicious!!!
One of my favorite recipes to come out of the book is for a 'cowboy' chili sauce, from Jamie's Mountain Meatball recipe. In Jamie's version you make this amazing sauce and then smother it all over giant meatballs that are stuffed with cheddar cheese and then bake the whole thing until thick and delicious. The first time I made it we tried it with the meatballs, and while the meatballs were ok - the sauce definitely stole the show! Thankfully the recipe made a ton which meant that we had a lot of left over sauce, and we have been eating it on pretty much everything. Tonight we browned a little ground turkey before adding the sauce and eating it over cous cous and avocado. We've also used it on grilled chicken, added it to stews, and slathered it in sandwiches. Its seriously that good. I warned you.
'Cowboy' Chili Sauce (adapted from Jamie's America)
1 large red onion, peeled and ifnely diced
2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped
10 cloves of garlic, pealed and finely sliced
2 fresh chilis, deseeded and finely chopped (leave some seeds if you like it hotter)
2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce (I deseeded one and left the seeds in the other - we like it hot)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (we used hot hungarian)
6 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
6 heaped tbsp bbq sauce (Jamie used ketchup but I prefer the smokiness of the bbq sauce)
6 tbsp cider vinegar
6 tbsp dark molasses (unsulfered)
2 tbsp dijon mustard
400ml beef stock (we used 2 cups)
1 14oz can of chopped tomatos
2 bay leaves
1. In a large pot heat a tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add your onions, peppers, fresh chilis and garlic and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add your paprika and chipotles and a tbsp or two of the adobo sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, bbq sauce, vinegar, molasses, mustard, beef stock, bay leaves, and tomatoes and bring to a boil.
4. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 20 minutes until it has thickened. If the sauce is still thinner than you would like it after 20 minutes, just keep simmering until it is your desired level of thickness.
Enjoy on just about anything! Here it is below mixed with added ground turkey and served over sliced avocado with a little cheese on top!
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